Video intelligence company NPAW unveiled its CDN Balancer, a smart system that balances loads between content delivery networks (CDNs) based on quality of experience and expanded video analytic capabilities. NPAW will officially debut CDN Balancer at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, later this month.
CDN Balancer consists of two key tools, CDN Selector and CDN Active Switching, which can be used separately or in combination with each other.
Till Sudworth, chief marketing officer at NPAW, told Fierce Video CDN Selector is a decision-making process that chooses CDNs based on a manually configured ruleset. These rules determine appropriate content based on region type, performance requirements, network and security protocols and other parameters. CDN Selector can customize multiple CDN balancing configurations, then use machine learning to measure CDN performance at the end-user level.
CDN Active Switching, Sudworth continued, doesn’t require any rule setup. It automatically chooses the CDN that can provide the highest quality content for the end-user. The tool uses real-time data and bitstream switching to divide content into separate segments and can then seamlessly switch between multiple CDNs in a single video session.
CDN Active Switching is especially useful, Sudworth said, for livestreaming and recording events with huge user concurrency.
“If you have a live event, you want to guarantee that content is delivered in its best quality,” he said.
NPAW touts its client-side plugin processes up to 15 billion video plays globally per month. Some of NPAW’s OTT customers include Pluto TV and Tubi, Sudworth said, as well as a variety of global telcos and broadcasting companies.
Other companies have also broke ground in enhancing CDN solutions. Intel partnered with Varnish Software last year to increase network throughput across their VOD and linear use cases. View TV used CommScope technology to develop a CDN for broadcasters that want to transition to digital platforms.
Sudworth added that CDN Balancer relies on artificial intelligence to manage an abundance of video and advertising analytics.
“There’s just too much data happening in real-time for a human to process,” he said. “An AI solution is the only way to move forward in the CDN market.”